If you love dramatic sleeves like me, then this one’s for you.
The latest fabric collection from The Craft Cotton Company collaberation with the V&A is called Indian Summer. The gorgeous designs featured on the fabrics are inspired by the textiles and elegant Indian garments that are on display at the Museum and have lovely tones of green, pink, and cream throughout. I’ve been enjoying dressmaking recently and thought that these fabrics would make a great statement blouse! The prints that I’ve used for this top are called ‘Jaipur Flower Sage’ and ‘Varanasi’.
The pattern I’ve used is the ‘Lily top’ from The Sew Club on Etsy. It is a romantic wrap top with big puff sleeves and a tie waist, a lovely top that can transition thought the summer to autumn months.
This pattern ideally requires a wider width of fabric, so I had to be savvy and use a bit more than the suggested amount. I ended up using about 1.5 metres of the sage fabric with ½ metre of the pink as a contrasting tie to make this top in a size medium. I wasn’t originally going to use two different prints but because I ran out of the sage, I had no choice, but I’m so glad that happened because I think it really adds to the top and has become a feature.
The ties are cut ‘on fold’ but due to the fabric that I had left after cutting the bodice and sleeves out, I had to cut 2 separate pieces and join them together instead. This isn’t noticeable because once you’ve tied them around you can’t see the joins, and on a printed fabric it isn’t as obvious. The ties are sewn into the side seams and can wrap around the top in either direction depending on how you’d wear it.
I used a pink bias binding on the neckline and because I used the pink fabric for the tie, I decided to sew the bias binding so that it would be visible to compliment the tie. The cuffs are elasticated with an option to add ties too which I will probably add at some point, after all, more is more!
I made my top up in a medium but made the sleeves slightly shorter than the patterned required, mainly because if I wanted to use the full pattern piece, I would have had to cut the fabric in the wrong direction. The amount of fabric you’ll use depends on how puffy you’d like the sleeve. I’m glad that I didn’t make the sleeves to full size because they are very large already and any bigger might have been too much (even for me!) The cotton fabric keeps it shape in the sleeves so if the top was made in a thinner fabric, such as lawn, it would work using the full sleeve pattern.
Overall, the pattern was simple to follow, I love this style of blouse and the fabric suits it well. I wouldn’t usually go for a tie waist top and was considering leaving off the ties, but without them to the top just wouldn’t have been complete. I enjoyed the process and stumbling upon ‘happy accidents’ making the outcome something I wasn’t expecting but ended up loving. The colour combinations are so pretty and I’m looking forward to getting lots of wear from this blouse!
Until next time, happy sewing! Kym x
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Stunning, you did a perfect job. It looks so great on you Kym